Before you start playing this app its best to cancel any meetings you have.

Megacity is like a combination of Tetris and Sim City, sounds a bit odd? Well it isn’t. What is actually is, is addictive iPhone gaming at its peak.

Megacity will start you off with a tutorial that all sounds a little bit complicated. As it’s a written tutorial it’s not the best way to explain how the game works, but after playing it you will soon pick the idea up. If you start a new game you will be presented with a grid of 42 grass blocks (the grid is set out 7x6). Down the left of the screen will be a list of buildings. Taping on one of the grass blocks will place the building at the top of the list on that block. A new building is then introduced at the bottom of the list (kind of like how the blocks are shown to you on Tetris before you place them).

Residential buildings score you points. By scoring the required points shown above the left hand column, it will delete that row and open up a new set of grass blocks for you to build on. Other buildings (such as Schools, Hospitals and Police Stations) will multiply the score of your residential buildings to help you progress. Though be careful, some buildings (such as prisons, land fill sites and Factories) will actually decrease the value of your houses. It is a bit like role playing the job of the local council’s planning and development surveyor, while trying not to ruin your housing values.

As you will soon come to realise, this game realises heavily on your ability to foresee the consequences of placing one building here or there. If you fill up the whole Grid without beating the required scored on the left hand column, then it is game over. At the game over screen you will be given a score. Your high score is posted to GameCenter which allows you to view the top 10 scores for the whole world.

Continue to play Megacity and you will level up, unlocking new buildings to give you added bonuses. Bonus experience points can be gained by achieving certain objectives such as get a plus 10 multiplier for a house tile. There are also a set of challenges that will give you a pre-loaded grid, limited buildings, and a finish line to get to. Completing a challenge will get you bonus experience points. At the time of writing there are 2 in-app purchases available. One is a set of extra challenges and the other is a double XP mode.

The graphics are in HD which makes the grid and the buildings clear and easy to see. A nice touch is that when you get multipliers on housing squares it improves the look of the house. A house with -3 might look bit run down and dilapidated, while a house with plus 10 will look like something only a MP who fiddles their expenses might be able to afford (minus the moat). Another nice touch is when you place a building down you will hear a sound that is related to that building. An example is when you place down a police station you will hear sirens, or when you place down a hospital you will hear a life support machine. All of this adds to the overall quality of the app.

It might all sound a bit complicated, but it is very simple to play which is what makes this game great. It’s the type of game that anyone can play, but it’s going to take a lot of practise to get those high scores and level up. Megacity is also very addictive, you find yourself seeing the game over screen and saying, “I really should be doing something else, but just one more game can’t hurt”. The quality feel to the app and its addictive nature makes it an easy recommendation for anyone who likes puzzle games.